John McM

Taste is a personal thing. I couldn't get to love the tail fitted to my C4 when I bought it so I fitted a ducktail. Your taste may differ, but if you hanker after a ducktail, this is what you need and how much it costs

Firstly, you obviously need the ducktail. There are many suppliers out there. I can't vouch for other suppliers but the tail I bought off Rennspd on eBay for USD 485 was an acceptable quality. The model ducktail I bought will fit any 911 up until the 993, but the 964 hinge mount points are different to early cars so make sure you specify it's for a 964. Another option from Rennspd was white gel coat. As my car is GP White I took that option. It took about a week to make and a week to ship. As each country is different all I'll say is that the freight added about 60% to the cost. BTW image off the Net as I can't locate my own photo.

John McM

Once you have the ducktail you need to buy a grille. It is a part designed to fit a '74 to '89 car. I got mine from Design 911. It cost GBP 135

John McM

The grille needs to be fixed to the ducktail. Search Rear Decklid Grille and Related Hardware on Pelican Parts to see what's required. It requires special T bolts and a load of washers. Count on spending USD 85 for the required fixings.

Once you have the ducktail, grille and fixings, it's time to send it to the body shop. They quoted 6 hours of labour to prime, fill, prime, fill, prime and paint. The tail didn't look that bad to me but they were at pains to point out how much work it would take. The final result is as follows.

John McM

There's a lot of comment on fit. Compared to my Turbo 3.6 tail and a '73 RS I don't think it's bad.

John McM

With the ducktail painted and fitted it's time to decide whether you'll put badges and/or decals on it. I chose a billet alloy 3.6 badge from Pelican Parts for USD 44.

John McM

The last decision is not yet made. I ordered old script decals and new ones. The old ones have yet to arrive. None of the current options scream "yes"

John McM

The final all up cost was USD 1,800. Labour and shipping contribute a lot to the cost. Maybe you can justify it by weight saving as the tail only weighs 5.8kg.

Other points to consider are paint match as it's difficult to hide new paint next to tired paint. You may have to refresh the bumper and rear quarters. Also if you are taking off your original lid you'll need to sort out the wiring. I didn't have to as I had a non original tail fitted.

Overall I'm very happy with the result. So far it hasn't had any negative impacts at the track. Temps are normal as is high speed stability. The only noticeable change is that the rear of the tail gets dirty quickly. There's obviously a real vortices created by the tail shape.

christallon

Thanks John,

Well written and described. I think the tail looks terrific, especially against the Fuchs. Have you triied it with Cup 1's for comparo sake? Also, I think the idea of some form of script back there is good. Is your car an RSA?

Thanks again for the in depth write-up. I love ducktails on these cars

John McM

My other wheels are Frankenstein 3 piece D90s so no cup 1s to try. Sorry.

As for the model. It's a C4. Not sure on the script. I think either the original badge or red decal in the original position.

jorijori

Looks great John especially on white car. BTW I send u PM.

VT DRIVER

Great look!

John McM

Final decision. Go with the stock rear badge.

PelicanParts.com

Nicely done John! Love the track shot.

Mark/Pelican Parts

joey bagadonuts

Fantastic thread. Thanks for taking the time!

I also agree with the C4 badging. I used to track and race a C4 and would've continued to do so if not for an unfortunate spin (by my co-driver). Perhaps I had a bit of a chip but I always wanted people to know when they were passed by the heavy, less capable variant.

When it comes to aesthetics, I know it's a personal choice and I could see why you toyed with a red Carrera version--to tie it all together. In your case, it turned out great but I might go for something simpler. IMHO, the script tends to diminish the great lines of the car just a bit. $0.02

John McM

Joey, this is my Track car and it's slowly evolving. I don't think it has gone out once without a tweak. At our recent tour it looked remarkably similar to another car, even though I'd never seen that before. My brain had captured the RS and I was creating my own one piece by piece.

Maybe once I've corrected the stance I'll see it can stand on shape alone. Mind you, it's getting old style seats soon so I may be stuck in the old skool mode. One of the problems it has is it shares a garage with a Turbo 3.6. Hard to compete with no hips and a flat paint job!

Hear you on the track capability. We run five 964s in our group. A C4 so far is easily the lap time leader. Maybe that driver could run faster in a C2, but right now I'm aiming for his time.